Emerson W. Baker, Author of "The Devil of Great Island" to Speak at Purchase March 26

Date Released: 3/5/2008

Emerson “Tad” Baker will discuss his latest book, The Devil of Great Island: Witchcraft and Conflict in Early New England, at Purchase College March 26 at 2:30 PM in the Multipurpose Room, Student Services Building. The lecture, which is sponsored by the History Board of Study and History Club, is free and open to the public. For more information, call 914-251-6550.

Purchase College, State University of New York, is located at 735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase, N.Y.

In 1682, 10 years before the infamous Salem with trials, the town of Great Island, New Hampshire, was plagued by mysterious events: strange, demonic noises; unexplainable movement of objects; and hundreds of stones that rained upon a local tavern and appeared at random inside its walls. In his book Baker shows how witchcraft hysteria overtook one town and spawned copycat incidents across New England.

Emerson “Tad” Baker is a professor of history at Salem State College. He is the award-winning author of numerous books and articles on the history and archaeology of early New England. He was a consultant and on-camera expert for the PBS-TV series Colonial House, and has appeared on other programs including the History Channel’s This Week in History. He has also consulted for National Geographic, the National Parks Service, Parks Canada, Pilmoth Plantation and many other cultural organizations.